[0 - 0] - I'm Frank Proto,
[0 - 2] professional chef and culinary instructor,
[2 - 4] and today we're gonna make foolproof carbonara.
[4 - 6] I'm gonna teach you how to make carbonara
[6 - 9] that's luscious, creamy, and full of flavor.
[9 - 11] This is Carbonara 101.
[12 - 13] Carbonara is one of those dishes
[13 - 15] that can seem super complicated,
[15 - 16] but in the end it's really easy
[16 - 18] and all you really need is a few techniques.
[18 - 19] If you follow all my techniques,
[19 - 22] it'll be foolproof every single time.
[24 - 27] One of the most important ingredients in carbonara
[27 - 28] is black peppercorns.
[28 - 30] Now, I like to grind my own,
[30 - 32] but before I grind them, I like to toast them.
[32 - 34] And toasting is gonna give us this really nice,
[34 - 36] nutty, deep black pepper flavor.
[36 - 39] So, put it over kind of medium low heat
[39 - 41] and we're just gonna put the peppercorns in
[41 - 43] until I start to smell that they're fragrant.
[43 - 44] And it's just a subtle nuance
[44 - 46] that makes this dish so much better.
[46 - 49] Make sure we're moving our peppercorns around
[49 - 50] so that they toast evenly.
[50 - 52] So what I'm looking for here is that
[52 - 56] I can smell my peppercorns getting fragrant.
[56 - 58] They start to kind of like move around in the pan a little,
[58 - 60] you'll see a little jump a little, right?
[60 - 61] We might hear a little pop.
[61 - 65] And once I hear that first popping, I take it off.
[65 - 67] I don't really wanna go any further than that
[67 - 69] 'cause then we're gonna get it overcooked.
[69 - 71] I'm gonna let these cool on this tray.
[71 - 72] And in the meantime,
[72 - 74] I'm gonna start prepping my other ingredients.
[77 - 79] One of the keys to a foolproof carbonara
[79 - 82] is to gather all of your ingredients.
[82 - 84] You need everything within arm's reach.
[84 - 87] So when I cook my pasta, I'm not waiting for anything.
[87 - 88] I can make it right away.
[88 - 91] Now that my peppercorns have cooled, I can crush them.
[91 - 94] Now, you could use a pepper grinder if you want,
[94 - 96] but I'm gonna use the old classic technique.
[98 - 102] I hold it down with my hand here, body weight down.
[102 - 105] So I'm pushing and rolling.
[106 - 108] Almost like you're doing a lever, right?
[108 - 113] I'm pushing down on this side and crushing my peppercorn and rolling.
[113 - 115] So I can smell as I crush
[115 - 118] that these are super fragrant, super nutty.
[118 - 120] That toasting brings out those flavors.
[120 - 123] We get the oils out and I don't want this to be super fine.
[123 - 126] I want it to have some texture to it.
[126 - 128] We're talking about how to take this dish
[128 - 131] from just kind of a standard dish to just that much better.
[131 - 134] And as a chef, grating your own cheese is super important.
[134 - 136] For my carbonara, I choose to use two cheeses.
[136 - 139] I'm using Parmesan cheese and I'm using Pecorino.
[139 - 141] And I do buy the good stuff for this,
[141 - 143] I go to the Italian cheeses.
[143 - 146] If you can get it, go for the best cheese you can find.
[146 - 147] I like to use a microplane for this.
[147 - 150] Now a microplane is a very fine grater.
[150 - 154] When this cheese melts, I want it to be nice and fine.
[154 - 155] I don't want to get shreds in there,
[155 - 157] I want to get this beautiful fine cheese
[157 - 160] that's gonna make my sauce super silky in the end.
[160 - 161] What I like about using two cheeses here
[161 - 163] is the Parmesan gives me a nice nuttiness,
[163 - 165] and it gives me a really great kind of earthy flavor,
[165 - 168] whereas the Pecorino is super sharp
[168 - 170] and it's got a lot of bite to it.
[170 - 172] So look, I have a lot of cheese here
[172 - 174] and that's a good thing, that's what I want.
[174 - 176] So this is for about four servings.
[176 - 180] Now that my cheese is grated, I can get to my eggs.
[180 - 182] For carbonara, I like my eggs to be room temperature.
[182 - 184] So what I'll do is I'll set them on the counter
[184 - 186] for about a half hour before I make the dish.
[186 - 189] Because if they're cold, that's gonna slow everything down.
[189 - 191] I'm gonna put hot pasta and cold eggs
[191 - 193] and the dish isn't gonna come together in emulsify, right?
[193 - 196] So eggs are the binder for this dish.
[196 - 197] This is what brings the whole thing together.
[198 - 202] And I'm going to use three whole eggs and two egg yolks.
[202 - 205] And what I like to do is crack my egg in half
[205 - 208] and just run my yolk between the shells
[208 - 210] until the white all runs out all the way.
[210 - 214] A lot of times people will just use straight eggs for this
[214 - 217] and that's okay, but the yolk is a lot of fat
[217 - 219] and the white is a lot of liquid.
[219 - 221] So by adding the extra yolk,
[221 - 224] I'm adding more fat to the dish, more richness to the dish.
[224 - 225] The next thing I'm gonna do
[225 - 227] is I'm gonna mix my eggs and cheese together.
[227 - 229] And this is a really important step
[229 - 232] because I want this to be a smooth and creamy sauce
[232 - 234] around my pasta.
[234 - 237] We want to get this into a nice homogenous mixture
[237 - 239] so that when we actually add the pasta to it,
[239 - 241] we don't get scrambled eggs, not a good look for carbonara.
[241 - 243] All right, so let's just take the cheese,
[243 - 247] dump it into the eggs, and we can just get this together.
[247 - 248] And you'll see it's gonna get
[248 - 251] kind of like a thick, creamy mixture.
[252 - 254] Get that all in there.
[254 - 256] I use a whisk just to get this together,
[256 - 259] but I'm not gonna use a whisk past this point.
[259 - 263] But you can see the mixture looks nice and creamy,
[263 - 264] it's come together.
[264 - 266] There's no bits of eggs or bits of cheese
[266 - 268] that aren't mixed in, and that's what I want.
[268 - 269] This is super important,
[269 - 273] getting your carbonara to the right finished texture.
[273 - 274] At this point, I want to add a little bit
[274 - 276] of my toasted black peppercorns, right?
[276 - 277] Give it a shake.
[277 - 281] Get a little bit of your finely ground stuff.
[281 - 284] Get a little bit of your bigger chunks.
[285 - 288] So my egg and cheese mixer is ready to go.
[288 - 290] And now, it's time for the star of the show, the guanciale.
[291 - 293] And this is super traditional for carbonara.
[293 - 294] Now if you don't have guanciale,
[294 - 296] if you can't find it where you're at, you can use panchetta,
[296 - 298] I've seen bacon be used.
[298 - 300] Traditionally, guanciale is used for carbonara
[300 - 302] and that's the jowl or the cheek of the pig
[302 - 304] that's being cured, salt cured.
[304 - 307] Sometimes they rub it in spices and sometimes in peppercorn,
[307 - 310] but it's just cured, it's salty, it's fatty, it's delicious.
[310 - 313] And that's why they use it. It has that fattiness.
[313 - 314] When we cook it out,
[314 - 316] we get a lot of fat that helps make our sauce
[316 - 317] smooth and creamy.
[317 - 319] So, when it comes to guanciale,
[319 - 321] I like nice big chunks of it.
[321 - 324] So I like to cut my own, I don't like to buy a pre-cut.
[324 - 327] So I want to get nice matchsticks or big mardons or chunks.
[327 - 332] Don't be shy, I want them to be super visible in my dish.
[332 - 334] So you see I have like kind of like this,
[334 - 337] this matchstick, a very thick matchstick.
[337 - 339] So we're gonna cut those into nice chunks,
[339 - 340] I don't want any wimpy little chunks.
[340 - 344] I wanna see this guanciale, it's a beautiful ingredient.
[344 - 346] It's got some meat on it, but it's not super meaty.
[346 - 348] Now that I have my guanciale cut,
[348 - 350] my eggs, cheese, and pepper mixture,
[350 - 352] we are ready to make our carbonara.
[355 - 356] You'll notice in front of me,
[356 - 360] I have all the ingredients I need within arm's reach.
[360 - 362] This is one of those things as a chef
[362 - 363] that you have to set yourself up for,
[363 - 365] it's proper mise en place.
[365 - 368] My water is boiling, I'm going to add some salt to my water.
[368 - 371] I want my water to be basically sea salty
[371 - 373] and I'm using dry pasta.
[373 - 375] It holds the sauce really well.
[375 - 377] I like to use spaghetti for this.
[377 - 379] I like the shape, I like the way it holds onto the sauce.
[379 - 381] I like the bite to it.
[381 - 382] Pasta's gonna take about 10 minutes,
[382 - 385] and in that time I'm going to get my guanciale ready to go.
[385 - 387] So turn your heat on.
[387 - 388] I like to use a little olive oil in my pan
[388 - 390] before I start cooking my guanciale.
[390 - 392] People will say but Chef Frank,
[392 - 393] the guanciale has a lot of fat.
[393 - 395] I like to put this in the pan
[395 - 397] to get the the process going quicker.
[397 - 399] My guanciale is gonna brown a little more evenly.
[399 - 401] I don't really have to wait for that fat to render out.
[401 - 403] So a little bit of fat in my pan to start
[403 - 405] is the way that I always go.
[405 - 408] We're gonna cook this until it is light golden brown.
[408 - 410] You can hear it start to sizzle.
[410 - 411] I don't want this to be crisp.
[411 - 413] I want it to have some chew to it in the end.
[413 - 415] So we're not gonna brown it all the way.
[415 - 417] We want to keep all the fat.
[417 - 419] A lot of people say, whoa, that's a lot of fat,
[419 - 420] we're gonna put that in the pasta?
[420 - 424] Yes, we're using all the fat. The fat is key to this dish.
[424 - 427] It's also going to emulsify with the egg yolks
[427 - 429] and make this sauce super creamy.
[429 - 430] Don't forget to get in there
[430 - 432] and stir your pasta occasionally,
[432 - 433] we don't want it sticking.
[433 - 435] Well, how do you tell if pasta's done?
[435 - 438] If you look at it right now, it's still very firm, right?
[438 - 440] We want it to be nice and al dente,
[440 - 441] which means to the tooth.
[441 - 442] We don't want it to be overcooked,
[442 - 444] we want it to have a little bite to it.
[446 - 447] My guanciale is ready to go.
[447 - 449] You can see it's still bubbling away.
[449 - 451] It's not completely done.
[451 - 453] But, if I leave it in the pan and keep it hot,
[453 - 455] it's gonna continue to cook.
[455 - 457] I don't want it to get any more crisp in this.
[457 - 458] So I think my pasta's ready.
[458 - 461] The best way to determine if it is, is to take a piece,
[461 - 464] try not to burn yourself and actually taste it.
[465 - 466] And that's good to go.
[466 - 468] A lot of people will mix carbonara in a pan
[468 - 470] and I don't like doing it in a pan, right?
[470 - 471] Pans retain heat.
[471 - 474] I'm afraid my eggs might overcook and get scrambled.
[474 - 476] So I like to mix everything in the bowl
[476 - 478] that I mix the cheese and eggs in.
[478 - 481] So let's take our pasta out, right?
[481 - 483] I drain it, but I don't drain it too well.
[483 - 486] We want to get a little bit of that pasta water in there.
[486 - 490] The pasta water has starch, it has a little bit of salt.
[490 - 492] So this goes right into my eggs.
[492 - 497] And this is gonna start that process of cooking those eggs.
[497 - 502] And then guanciale and all the fat goes in, don't be shy.
[502 - 503] And then we mix.
[503 - 506] I have a pair of tongs and here is the key here.
[506 - 508] We want to mix, mix, mix, right?
[508 - 513] We want that egg and that cheese to start to cook.
[514 - 517] We want that fat to be emulsified into the sauce.
[518 - 520] But look at that, right? Super creamy.
[520 - 523] Those eggs start to cook. It smells cheesy.
[523 - 526] Oh my gosh, nice big chunks of the guanciale,
[526 - 528] which this is the important part here.
[528 - 532] We're emulsifying the sauce around the pasta.
[532 - 534] All of that fat from the guanciale is getting in there
[534 - 538] and we this beautiful, luscious, creamy sauce, look at that.
[538 - 540] It's almost like magic when this sauce comes together.
[542 - 543] Give it a little twist.
[544 - 548] I'm gonna take some of my guanciale, put it on top, right?
[548 - 550] Get some of that creamy guanciale from the bottom.
[550 - 553] I'm gonna take a little more of my toasted black peppercorns
[553 - 556] and just a little more of my Pecorino and Parmesan cheese,
[556 - 559] as if there wasn't enough already.
[559 - 562] And that is foolproof carbonara.
[564 - 567] Time to dig in, I'm so excited.
[567 - 568] This is one of those dishes
[568 - 571] that waits for no man, woman, or child.
[571 - 572] You wanna make sure you eat it
[572 - 574] while it's hot and ready to go.
[574 - 576] Make sure you get a little bit of everything in there.
[578 - 580] The sauce is silky and creamy.
[580 - 582] 'cause I took the time to get everything mixed really well.
[582 - 584] The guanciale has some chew to it.
[584 - 587] We get a little bit of spiciness from that black peppercorn
[587 - 590] and the mixture of bowl cheeses, sharp and kind of earthy,
[590 - 592] I think makes this carbonara
[592 - 594] one of the best versions you'll ever have.
[597 - 598] It's not complicated.
[598 - 600] It takes a little technique, a little bit of love,
[600 - 603] and just makes every part of you happy,
[603 - 609] not only your tummy, but your soul as well. [upbeat music]